The No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis team was defeated by No. 4 Stanford in San Diego on Sunday, Jan. 14. Despite the challenge, the Aggies put up a fight and did not let the Cardinal escape easily with a 4-3 score.
In doubles play, both teams were neck-and-neck in efforts to rally ahead of their opponent. The No. 3 duo of junior Mary Stoiana and sophomore Mia Kupres secured a needed ranked win over No. 27 graduate Angelica Blake and sophomore Alexis Blokhina, 6-2.
After Stanford secured a second doubles win over sophomore Nicole Khirin and freshman Lucciana Perez, it came down to the last court, where junior Gianna Pielet and fifth year Sydney Fitch looked to put their team on top. However, the duo fell to freshman Katherine Hui and junior Valencia Xu at the break, 6-2.
Coming into the singles round, all eyes were on No. 1 Stoiana, who claimed a sweep against No. 48 Blake that cut into the Cardinal lead. No. 31 Khirin earned a vital 2-1 win for the Aggies against No. 11 junior Connie Ma. This locked in the Israeli native’s first ranked win of the season. Stanford was then quick to claim Courts 4 and 5.
On Court 3, No. 26 Kupres defeated No. 49 junior Alexandra Yepifanova, the reigning Pac-12 Champion, in three sets. After the match at Court 6, Stanford officially secured the 4-3 win.
The Aggies will have a doubleheader against Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 12 p.m. with Abilene Christian to follow at 4 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
